Who's Black and Why?

Auteurs

• Henry Louis Jr Gates

Paramètres

• 320 pages
• 12 heures de lecture

• Nonfiction
• Presse d'opinion & Essais
• Sciences sociales
• Sociologie
• Thème historique

En savoir plus sur le livre

The eighteenth-century essays published for the first time provide a disturbing insight into the origins of racism, showcasing European intellectuals grappling with justifications for the atrocities of the Atlantic slave trade. In 1739, Bordeaux’s Royal Academy of Sciences announced a contest seeking essays on the sources of “blackness,” prompting sixteen submissions from across Europe, including naturalists, physicians, and theologians. These essays address the physical causes of black skin and African hair, as well as notions of degeneration, reflecting a range of opinions. Some authors argue that Africans fell from God’s grace, while others attribute blackness to climate or anatomical differences. Despite their varied perspectives, all essays converge on a common theme: the quest for a scientific understanding of race. This collection serves as a crucial record of Enlightenment-era thought that helped normalize the enslavement of Black individuals. The previously unpublished documents, now translated into English and accompanied by an introduction and headnotes from Henry Louis Gates, Jr. and Andrew Curran, reveal the foundational ideas that fueled anti-Black racism and colorism in the West, preserved for centuries in Bordeaux’s municipal library.

Achat du livre

• Année de publication: 2024
• Reliure: (souple)